


The Silence of Rivalry

by bbhikari



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Classical Music, Fluff and Angst, Implied Sekai, Implied Xiuchen, M/M, beagle line as best friends, chanbaek are friends turned rivals, implied namjin, implied yoonmin - Freeform, side Taekook - Freeform, will add more tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-21 13:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16577189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbhikari/pseuds/bbhikari
Summary: Baekhyun and Chanyeol are best friends however, they are the house captains of the two rival houses; Bach and Beethoven. This difference gets the better of them during house concert preparation season from Chanyeol's competitiveness. With their best friend Jongdae also in Beethoven alongside Chanyeol, Baekhyun faces a variety of issues that he never expected to happen





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing a Kpop fandom fic ever. I mean I have attempted to write fics before but I never finish them. Well, this is based on a real life story from my high school days, though it was coed and involved no romance. In the words of one of my Twitter mutuals, it's somewhat a mix of a Hogwarts and classical music au. Big thanks to some of my Twitter mutuals for making me realise that I should just write and post without worrying since it's fun. I hope my writing isn't too terrible!

_**Prologue - Mid July 2016 (End of Term 2)** _

Attending a prestigious music school meant that students had multiple compulsory musical activities to do: such as school choir, orchestra, and chamber ensembles. However, the most anticipated activities amongst all of the students were the house concerts. The rising year twelves were elected as house captains by their respective houses, whilst the whole school elected their school captains. The house concerts required each group of year elevens in their respective houses to put together a thirty minute concert. They had to be involved in all of the preparatory activities; from selecting the repertoire, printing music, planning rehearsals, booking extra rooms, to the lighting/staging. Teachers would come around to each houses’ rehearsals to observe their progress and the process undertaken. Finally, after the second concert night, one house is awarded the winner based on the rehearsal process and concerts.

“Starting off with Beethoven house, we are glad to announce your new captain is Chanyeol Park, and your vice captain Jimin Park. Next, we have Yixing Zhang as Brahms captain and Yoongi Min for vice captain. And, finally, Bach house captain, Baekhyun Byun and vice captain Taehyung Kim! Congratulations to the six of them for being elected in this role," the head music teacher announced whilst the previous captains handed them their badges and exchanged hugs.

“And now, I would like to announce your school and vice captains for 2016. They are Junmyeon Kim and Namjoon Kim. Congratulations!” the former leaders revealed, giving the two hugs and putting their badges on them. 

Applause resonated through the Choral Assembly Hall, students chattering with their friends about how great their captains were, and predicting their houses’ win. Baekhyun and Chanyeol hugged each other with wide smiles on their faces upon hearing that they had been chosen as the house captains for Bach and Beethoven house respectively. Despite being in the main two opposing houses, their friendship with each other and with Jongdae, who was also a Beethoven, stayed strong through the past four years.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Biggest struggle is whether to do last name first or do it first name first when writing full names. This fic follows Australian schooling because I'm Australian so I hope it isn't too confusing.  
> There's several pieces mentioned in here so if you want to listen heres the Spotify URL that I have shortened  
> https://goo.gl/LYTjXV  
> I will add more as they are mentioned in the fic.  
> Hope this is ok!

_ Term 3 Holidays (First two weeks of October) _

Baekhyun was pleased, seeing as his house members had come to agreement upon their repertoire without much of a fight. He was now in the photocopy room with Jongin and Kyungsoo, binding their music together, personalised by part for each student. 

“Hey Soo, can you and Jongin stay here while I go check out the rehearsal room allocations? I think it should be up now, so I better check so I can plan what we’ll do in each rehearsal and all.” 

“Sure. By the way, where are Taehyung and Jungkook? I feel like I haven’t seen them since we got here.”

“Who knows what on earth they’re up to. As long as they’re chopping those pencils in half, sharpening them, and then putting on the rubbers I’m fine. Alright, I’m going now.”

Baekhyun waved the two off as he headed over to the noticeboard in the open study space for the room allocations. With the start of term soon approaching, he knew there would be others in his grade at who were also at school preparing for the rehearsals, but what he didn’t expect was to overhear Chanyeol and Jongdae complaining about the allocations.

“The teachers literally love Bach. That’s why they’ve won for three years straight and have the best rooms for rehearsal.”

“They didn’t even deserve it the last two years, only the first time.”

Baekhyun stilled upon hearing this. He never realised how competitive Chanyeol had become. Sure, they didn’t have much time to talk recently due to preparations, but he wasn’t prepared to hear such harsh words. Everyone had a degree of house pride, but it never usually got in the way of friendships.  _ Do they ever talk about me when I’m not there?? _ Baekhyun thought to himself, hoping his thoughts were incorrect as the three of them have had a no secrets friendship since the beginning of high school.

Pretending he hadn’t heard their exchange just then, he proceeded to have a look at the noticeboard while briefly exchanging  _ ‘hey’s’ _ with his two best friends as they rushed back to where their own house were gathered. Baekhyun quickly took a picture of the notice, before heading to the classroom he was working in before visiting Kyungsoo and Jongin.

“Baek! We’re done with the pencils and erasers! Jungkook deadass kept breaking the pencils instead of actually chopping them so we had to quickly go buy some more, otherwise, here!” Taehyung shouted as he walked into the classroom with Jungkook right behind him.

“Oi, the pencils were too easy to break. Not my fault, stuff you Tae!” 

“Okay, okay. It’s fine as long as we got them. Just chuck the bag of them to the side of the locker, yeah? Then come back here for more stuff.” Baekhyun replied before sitting down and opening up the photo again to see what other rooms he would need to book. He rested his head in his hand, and shifted his gaze to the distance, once again thinking about his best friends’ exchange. Knowing there was always an edge of competitiveness, especially since he and Chanyeol were house captains, he really shouldn’t be hurt, but it just couldn’t be helped. They’ve never had major issues in their friendship so why was there tension now? 

“Baek! BAEKHYUN!”

Hearing his name, he snapped out of his reverie and looked at Taehyung, who had been shouting his name.

“Are you okay? You completely zoned out there. Also, what do you want Jungkook and I to do now that we’re back?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry about me. Tae, could you help me go through the allocations and decide what we should do each rehearsal? Jungkook, you can help Jongin and Kyungsoo with the music binding. Make sure each book has the right name on it, yeah?” 

Nodding, Jungkook headed off into the photocopy room where Jongin and Kyungsoo were, whilst Taehyung sat next to Baekhyun as they discussed the details of their rehearsal schedule. Having been at school since 10am, they decided to call it quits at about 2pm. Jungkook and Taehyung left together for a date whilst Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Jongin went out for a late lunch at the nearby cafe. Kyungsoo once again asked Baekhyun if he was alright since he had zoned out earlier. Baekhyun simply just brushed off his annoyance with Chanyeol and Jongdae  as overprotectiveness for his house. Knowing Jongin had a close relationship with Sehun from Beethoven, Baekhyun asked how they were doing and if the house concerts were changing their relationship.

“No, not really. I mean, we’re both involved in planning and all now but we don’t see the point in being so competitive. Why? Did something happen with Chanyeol, Jongdae, and you? Sehun told me they’ve been very pushy with their house. Well, mostly Chanyeol though.”

Baekhyun simply brushes it off again before going back to his food, and sensing his irritation the other two did the same. They made small talk about what they had to do in preparation for the new term, and which roles they were thinking of taking. Shortly after, the three of them left the cafe, parting ways to go home. 

Opting to forget the exchange between his two best friends earlier, Baekhyun texts their group chat asking how things were going. Jongdae responds quickly, saying that they were okay but that Chanyeol was stressed because he really wanted to win. With that, Baekhyun puts his phone down, going back to the rehearsal planning on his laptop.  Such planning goes on for the rest of the two week break and by the end, all of the houses were prepared to begin their rehearsal process with the coming term. 

_ Term 4 Week 1 (Mid-October) _

Classes resumed as normal, however, orchestra and choir rehearsal times were now house concert rehearsal times. Chamber rehearsals still went on but once the chamber concert was over, that time a lot would too be for house concert rehearsals. Now that they were entering their final four terms of high school, Baekhyun was reunited with Chanyeol and Jongdae a few of their classes. The dynamics of their friendship was pretty much the same as it was before the holidays; they were disruptive trio. They were known for being top of their classes, but also the ones that would sit eating and laughing amongst themselves. 

Even though school had started again, the three of them found less and less time to hang out. Both Baekhyun and Chanyeol frequently held house meetings with the other members in their grade to keep up with planning. To Baekhyun, this was fair enough and he knew he was still going to see Chanyeol in their chamber music rehearsals - they were in a piano trio together with their school captain, Junmyeon, since they were some of the best performers in the school.

The first rehearsal for house concerts that Tuesday morning ran smoothly for Baekhyun as he worked with his house cohort on their choir pieces conducted by Jungkook and Kyungsoo. Jungkook was conducting the Icelandic choir piece;  _ Heyr Himna Smi _ _ ð _ _ ur _ , and Kyungsoo conducting  _ Untraveled Worlds  _ \- a modern choral work. The other roles were Taehyung conducting _ Dvorak 8, _ and Baekhyun conducting Tchaikovsky’s  _ Sleeping Beauty Waltz.  _

The week went on as it usually would without house concerts and Thursday chamber rehearsals finally came up. At this point, Baekhyun had long decided that he would stop worrying and anticipate his piano trio’s rehearsal. The piece they were working on was Elena Kats Chernin’s  _ The Spirit and the Maiden _ , a piano trio work they had been studying in class, with a variety of moods - as expected of an Australian composer. Each of them playing their major instrument; Baekhyun on violin, Chanyeol on piano and Junmyeon in cello. 

Having arrived to their usual designated room early, Baekhyun takes out his violin to tune up and practice a bit of his part. Chanyeol arrives shortly after Baekhyun, greeting him cheerfully.

“Baek! How are you? We haven’t had time to talk for so long!” Chanyeol said as he high-fived Baekhyun.

“What are you on about, we literally talk in the classes we have together?”

“Oh, right, yeah, but still. Aside from classes, I don’t see you often. Then again I guess we’re both really busy these days.”

“Hmm. Yeah, that’s true,” Baekhyun briefly responded before Junmyeon walked in with their chamber tutor. Only then did their rehearsal start. 

Once the rehearsal ended an hour later, Baekhyun took a deep breath before asking Chanyeol. “Are you free right now? Do you want to go eat somewhere since schools over for today?”

He kept his eyes on Chanyeol’s, waiting for his response.

“No, I can’t sorry, Baek. Still have things to sort out. You know? The usual rehearsal prep kind of thing. Maybe next time, yeah?”

“Oh my god, yeah of course it’s alright. Don’t worry I get you, and yeah, I’ll ask again next week! Bye Yeol! I better head off home to do some practicing. You heard the man, need to practice that high ornamental part,” Baekhyun replied before briskly walking to the station. 

He sighed, thinking about how Chanyeol was almost always busy due to the house concert preparations. It wasn’t that Baekhyun didn’t understand, because as a fellow captain he really did. But, what he didn’t understand was the amount of time Chanyeol had dedicated to it.

 

_\---- Baekhyun and Jongdae iMessage ----_

**Baekhyun**

DAE, are you guys always busy or what?? 

Why is Chan telling me he has more prep to do?? 

Even I’m not this busy. 

**Jongdae**

Duuudddeeee. 

I don’t know if you noticed but he’s getting so competitive. 

Like I obviously work with him a lot in the prep but omg he really wants to win. 

Sometimes I feel like I have to work more than our vice cap Jimin because I’m just easier to contact ejsbsjshajka 

**Baekhyun**

omg ok. Yea I thought I saw him getting more competitive. 

I ask him how he’s going sometimes n the answer’s so short like ??? 

Alright thanks. I’m assuming you’re probs helping Chan right now so I’ll leave you to it! 

**Jongdae**

no worries Baek! 

And no I’m not with him right now, just going shopping for bribery material in the form of lollies. 

How’s it going for you tho??

**Baekhyun**

YOURE SHOPPING. 

I NEED LOLLIES TOO WHERE ARE YOU. 

LETS MEET. 

I’m going great.  Kids are cooperating well. 

Only looked at choir pieces so far but rip pronunciation needs work. 

**Jongdae**

OKOKOK COME TO THE WOOLIES AT TOWN HALL YEA. 

I’M THERE. 

And we can continue this convo when we meet ;)

_ \---- Message Section End ---- _

Smiling to himself, Baekhyun boarded the train excited to catch up with Jongdae since Chanyeol couldn’t provide. Upon seeing Jongdae again, the two shared a long hug, despite having seen each other in classes, they never really had breaks together anymore with all the preparation going on. The two best friends eventually left the supermarket with their lollies and ended up at  _ Gongcha, _ buying themselves a milk tea whilst sharing plenty of laughter and catching up on anything and everything. 

As always, good times can never really last forever. When Jongdae checked his phone to see a text from Chanyeol asking where he was and to comeback, Baekhyun too received a text from Taehyung saying they had some room booking issues. Both gave each other one last hug before parting ways.


End file.
